AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State volleyball team won its fourth Big 12 match in five with a sweep over West Virginia 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-18) Saturday afternoon in Hilton Coliseum. The win improves Iowa State to 10-5 on the season and 4-1 in Big 12 play. West Virginia drops to 15-4 overall and 2-3 in Big 12 competition.

Turning Point of the MatchThe difference in the match was ISU’s ability to get early leads in the first set, allowing for some leeway when West Virginia battled back in each of the sets. The first set saw Iowa State jump out to a 10-4 lead before WVU called a timeout to get back involved.

The second set saw the Mountaineers get the first point, but ISU went on a subsequent 7-0 run on the serving of the Big 12’s top server in Tory Knuth. During the run, Knuth had two aces. The first may have been the best produced by the redshirt sophomore this season, a stinger that dipped after it got over the net so sharply that none of the WVU defense could react on time.

The third set saw the Cyclones sprint out to a 13-4 advantage.

Cyclone Match Ball Goes to…Tory Knuth. She is the rare middle blocker who can make an impact in three dimensions of the game and all three stood out on Saturday. She had one of the most efficient matches of her career, earning eight kills at a .571 hitting percentage. Her serving was in top form, earning two aces during a second set run. Lastly her blocking, something ISU has needed in its pursuit of improving the Big 12’s weakest block, was in play today as she recorded a solo block and two block assists as the Cyclones out-blocked WVU 8.0-to-5.0.

Honorable mention to Ciara Capezio, who had nine kills and five service aces. Kristen Hahn only had two digs in the first set before finishing the match with 19 after posting nine digs in the second set and eight in the third set.

Quoting Christy Johnson-Lynch“I thought we served really well today. (Ciara) Capezio’s serves were flying over the net and that was really cool to see her serve so toughly. Statistically, we had one of our best blocking nights of the season. We have two straight nights where our blocking has improved.”

Cyclone Notes*Iowa State started Big 12 play 4-1 for the third time under head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. The Cyclones started Big 12 play 5-1 in 2007, and 8-1 in 2011.*ISU out-blocked West Virginia 8.0-5.0, only the third time all season the Cyclones finished a match with more blocks than their opponents (San Diego, at Texas Tech).*Iowa State has had more service aces than its opponents in all five matches this season. The Cyclones have had 30 aces in Big 12 play and have conceded only six aces.*Kristen Hahn finished the match with 19 digs, marking her 55th straight match with at least 10 digs.*Ciara Capezio had a career-best five service aces on the evening. She is the second Cyclone to have a five-service ace match this season (Caitlin Nolan vs. Illinois).

On DeckIowa State has a mid-week bye before its showdown at No. 4 Texas. The match begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on FSN.